What God says about mental illness

What is mental health? Where does mental illness even come from? What are Christians supposed to do about it?

If you’re a Christian living in the United States, you can’t help but ask these questions. Around 47 million Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness—that’s one out of every five people. These are real people who are struggling with real challenges in their everyday lives. You may be one of these people. And, if you aren’t, I can at least guarantee that someone in your life is.

I’m sure that this topic of mental illness has been on many of our minds this week, in light of the horrible shootings in El Paso and Dayton. Unfortunately, even though mental illness is prominent in our society, and shows up in a variety of ways in our lives, we tend to avoid talking about it. Most Christians wouldn’t touch this topic with a ten-foot pole! Because it’s challenging. It’s confusing. It’s controversial.

But if we don’t talk about it, that doesn’t mean it’s just going to go away! So, as Christians, we have to wrestle with this from Scripture. We have to consider what God has to say about mental illness. And when we do, I believe we find hope. We find direction. We find the courage to carry on. And that’s what we are going to do this weekend in our services.

I look forward to exploring this topic of mental health together as we continue our Healer series this weekend. If you know someone that could benefit from this talk—someone who may be wrestling with their own questions about mental illness–please don’t hesitate to invite them. You never know how Jesus may use you, and use this short time together in worship, to bring hope and healing to their lives.

See you this weekend!

Gunnar Tesdahl
Director of Worship